The Desert's Flower
by Happyfish
Summary: This story has been adopted by Echo Uchiha
1. Chapter 1

The Desert's Flower

Chap.1

Happyfish: I do not own NARUTO!!!

Summary: What if Sakura had moved to Suna for a little while when she was younger? And what if her parents were ninjas that went there for a mission? What if the young six-year-old Sakura met the young lonely six your old Gaara? Will they befriend each other? What will happen when Sakura will have to go back to Kahona? What will happen to Suna in the eight years after she has left, and are desperate to get Sakura _sama_ back? What will happen at the Chunin exams?? And what will happen if the Kazekage is determined to get Sakura back at all costs…

Sakura had run into her surprised mother's arms and was crying her poor little heart out again.

"Have the other children been mean to you again?" Asked her mother gently.

Sakura cried harder and said sadly "Okaa-san, they all hate me and none of them want to be my friend and they all tease me because of my hair and forehead."

"It is time for sleep my darling daughter." Said her father.

Sakura detached from her mother and sadly went her way up to her room and into to bed, tears still coursing down her cheeks and it was an hour until her tears had exhausted herself.

Her parents looked at each other worriedly, the bullying had gotten worse and Sakura was starting to with draw herself from others.

"Hiro, I think that we should accept that mission to Suna." Said her mother. "If not for us than for our poor, poor daughter."

"Yes a change in scenery will help her a lot." Said Hiro quietly. "I will go back up our things and you tell the Hokage that we accept that mission."

CHANGE OF TIME AND SCENE CHANGE OF TIME AND SCENE CHANGE

"Thank you Yashamaru for this favor." Said Hiro gratefully.

"This is no burden at all and I already am taking care of three children, so taking care of one more will not hurt me." Said Yashamaru confidently.

He took the lovely little rosette from them and held her in one arm and carried her bags in the other one.

He gently tucked her in bed and gently set her bags down beside her, Yashamaru looked out the window and saw Gaara looking up at the stars.

Kankura and Temari were doing an over night stay at a friend house.

Sakura woke up several hours later when the sun hit her face; she flinched at the harsh heat.

She opened her eyes and yawned widely, as her rubbed her yes she looked around and her heart sped up.

'Wh-where am I?' Wondered Sakura worriedly.

Sakura got up and felt relieved, she was still wearing her clothes from yesterday, she got up and climbed up on to the windowsill and peeked out of the window.

She furrowed her brow in confusion, outside it had lots of sand and it was everywhere also there were no trees in sight and the sun seemed to glare down brightly.

She fell from her perch on the windowsill and screeched, a man burs through the door. Sakura knew that he was a ninja.

She started to call on her geccia genko when the man spoke.

"Hello, my name is Yashamaru and you are in Suna." He stated. "Your parents left you in my care while they are on a mission in Suna."

"I see." Replied Sakura. "My name is Sakura."

Why don't you go outside and play?" Asked Yashamaru.

"O.K." Sakura replied and with that she grabbed her teddy bear and a soccer ball and followed Yashamaru out of the house.

What she did not notice was that the kids all tensed when they saw the door open and then they relaxed when they saw that it was a girl not, a boy coming out.

Shyly she went over to a group of kids who where playing at the playground, she squeezed her teddy bear tighter as she shyly asked. "C-can I p-play with you?"

They stared at her and they shrank back and away from her since she looked so different, she had rose-colored hair and a very wide forehead.

Sakura's eyes filled with tears and she sat down in a chair swing and cried softly and she did not notice when her soccer ball fell out of her lap and rolled away.

Gaara noticed the soccer ball and used his sand to gently pick up and grab the ball and went over towards the girl he had spotted on a swing.

"C-can I-I p-play with you?" Stuttered Gaara, already knowing that she would run away from him.

The girl looked up at him and he saw her tears in her eyes and the look of pain of loneliness and rejection in her eyes.

"Wh-what did you j-ust say?" Asked Sakura in disbelief.

"W-will you play w-with me?" Asked Gaara a little more confidently as he wondered mentally. 'Why is she not afraid of me? Why is she sad and why is she not running away from me?'

He saw her smile at him it made it made his heart lift up and she said "Yes!"

He was shocked and it must have transferred on to his face because her smile drooped and she asked, "What's wrong?"

"Why aren't you scared of me?" Asked Gaara. "Why don't you run away from me?"

She looked at him confused. "Why should I?"

"Be-because I'm a monster." Said Gaara sitting down in the swing beside her.

She had gotten up and was in front of him and she stated firmly, but kindly. "You do not look like a monster to me."

"R-really?" Asked Gaara looking up at her in shock.

Sakura nodded and said. "You are very nice and polite. No one has ever asked to play with me before. I am a freak, and I am weak."

He looked at her sharply and said to her "You are not a freak! Nor are you weak."

"I-I is not?" Asked Sakura timidly looking at him.

He shook his head and stood up and gave her a hug, she happily hugged him back, and a tear went down both cheeks and gaara held her tighter.

He enjoyed hugged Sakura, she was warm and soft and he enjoyed the fact that she hugged him back.

He, being several inches taller than her, buried his face in her lovely rose-colored hair.

He did not understand why he did that, but he found out he liked the smell of her hair it was the scent of cherry blossoms.

After a while they let go of one another, Gaara was more reluctant to let go over her because so few people were kind and affectionate to him.

"So…" Said Sakura shyly. "Are we best friends?"

Gaara nodded his head vigorously as a smiled a large bright smile and said, "Yes! Best friends forever!"

Sakura smiled at him and gave him a hug full of happiness and said, "You are my first friend!"

"Really?!" Said Gaara shocked. "You are MY first friend!"

Sakura's smile was infectious and soon he smiled again, but this time it was a small quiet kind of smile that he would only ever give Sakura, it made his entire face look gentle and his intense jade green eyes soft.

"Come on!" Said Sakura. "Let's play soccer!"

"O.K." Replied Gaara just as happy.

The pair of them played for hours together, they did not know that the passage of time had been great until their stomachs growled and they looked up at the sky and saw the sun sink beneath the horizon.

"Wow!" said Sakura cheerfully. "It's getting dark!"

Gaara asked "Where do you live Sakura?"

"I am staying with Yashamaru san, my parents are on a missyion." Answered Sakura.

"Really!?!" Said Gaara with a full-blown grin on his face. "I live with him to he is my uncle!!"

"That is SO COOL!!" Squealed Sakura delightedly as she hugged Gaara.

Gaara had noticed that whenever she was very happy or excited she would hug him, also if he were sad she would hug him.

When she got sad he noticed that he would hug her and get her mind of what ever it was that was bothering her, which were normally sad memories.

Gaara was happy that he had a friend and he shyly held her hand and tugged her to his home.

He was surprised at how much he had talked with Sakura and they found out that they had a lot in common and they found out a lot about on another.

He used a short cut to get home, it was faster and not very many people would use the path that he took.

Yashamaru, who was getting a little worried about Sakura had come out side and he looked over towards where he sensed Gaara and felt like he was having a heart attack.

He saw how close Sakura was to Gaara, his heart was bound very hard.

'Oh kuso!' Swore Yashamaru mentally. 'Gaara please do not explode and hurt her! Please!'

He was distracted from his frantic thought n the form of Sakura who smiled up at him happily and said. "This is my best friend Gaara kun! He is my bestest friend in the world!"

When she said that she hugged Gaara who quite happily hugged her back tightly.

Yashamaru saw the hungriness in Gaara's eyes and how possessively he held on to Sakura and how Gaara's sand wrapped around her tenderly.

'I-I need to tell the kazekage about... about this… Poor Sakura. I hope Gaara does not hurt her. I hope that my Kazekage does nothing to hurt her or do anything rash. Gaara would kill him.' Thought Yashamaru.

"Hey you two, I have dinner ready and waiting for you two." Said Yashamaru. "I have to go tall to the Kaszekage about something."

The pair of six year olds gleefully ran in to the house to eat, but before Gaara ran past him completely he said quietly to his uncle. "She is _MY_ friend and you will _NOT_ take her away from me."

Yashamaru nodded slightly and left the house, he paused for a moment and saw the duo happily eating together and he watched as Gaara watched Sakura intently.

Sakura was still a very innocent and sweet Yashamaru went towards the kazekages tower with a sinking feeling of unease.

"What are you doing here Yashamaru san?" Inquired one of the anbu guards guarding the door to the Kage's room.

"I need to speak tell the kazekage sama about Gaara sama." Replied Yashamaru in an emotionless voice.

The sand anbu ninja gulped and let him in quickly and he said nervously. "I-I will tell the Kazekage your wish."

With that said he poofed into sand and reappeared by the Kazekage and told him what Yashamaru had said.

With dread boiling through his veins he allowed Yashamru to come in and he set his face in an impassive, uncaring look.

"Kazekage sama." Said Yashamaru respectfully. " Gaara sama has made a friend, her name is Haruno Sakura of Kahona."

"How old is she and how long is she staying here?" Asked the Kazekage.

"She is six years old and I am unsure of how long she is staying here, it depends on how long the mission here parents are on will take." Replied Yashamaru.

"At least Kahona is an ally of ours." Said the Kazekage with a relaxing slightly. "I am glad that he has a friend, does she fear him?"

Happyfish: Thank you for reading!

Sakura: *uses puppy dog eyes of doom* Please review!

Gaara: *sand moves around threateningly* or else…

Sakura: Gaara!

Happyfish: You will scare away my readers!

Gaara: Sorry…


	2. Chapter 2

The Desert's Flower

Chap.2

Happyfish: I do not own Naruto!

"No, she does not fear him at all." Said Yashamaru. "In fact, he is her first friend."

"That is indeed an interesting thing." Said the Kazekage thoughtfully. 'Perhaps she would like to stay here where she has a friend.'

"But… her parents and the hokage will want her back." Said Yashamaru. "You do know that the Kahonians are very protective of their children."

"Hm." Said the Kazekage. "I will deal with that, or Gaara might when the time comes, he might go into a rage and start go on a blood bath."

"But…" Started Yashamaru.

"You are dismissed Yashamaru." Said the Kazekage sternly.

Yashamaru bowed and poofed out of the room and took a ling walk before he went home.

Mean while Sakura and Gaara were happily playing together until Gaara noticed that she was yawning a lot.

"It is time for you to go to sleep cherry blossom." Said Gaara firmly, but tenderly.

She shook her head and said while covering a yawn "Nu-uh! I do not want to go to sleep! I am not sleepy!"

She stifled another yawn and rubbed her eyes and Gaara said. "How about we play one last game of hide and seek and I will be the seeker."

"O.k." Replied Sakura.

Gaara closed his eyes and plugged his ears and counted to twenty, Sakura hid in a cabinet full of soft fluffy towels and slowly she fell asleep listening to Gaara's voice.

Gaara found her quickly and his sand gently pulled her out of the cabinet and dropped her into his arms, he was very strong for his age and she was very light for hers.

He tucked her into her room that he had found out earlier about where she was going to sleep.

Gently he laid her down on her right side, and when he tried to move away from his dear friend he found out that she was tightly holding on to the front of his desert cloak.

Ever so gently he used his sand to get her hand to release him, but what he did not except was green vines wrapping themselves gently around him in a cocoon of green.

Gaara was surprised and feeling a little mischievous he wrapped her up in a cocoon of sand and he laid beside her watching as she slept his eye lids grew heavy and he fell asleep.

Only Gaara's left had and Sakura's right hand were free and that was because they were holding the other's hand.

Yashamaru looked into Sakura's room to see if she was asleep or not and was shocked to see that Gaara was asleep in a cocoon of green and he saw Sakura asleep beside him in a cocoon of a, light sandy brown.

He smiled gently down at the scene and he could not help but take a picture of the duo asleep.

'If I take a pictures of them and get double copies of the pictures of them together then they can keep them so that they can remember each other, after all Sakura will leave some time.' Thought Yashamaru.

Yashamaru left them alone and several hours later the sun rose and made the duo groan in protest, the pair blinked and rubbed their eyes and yawned at the same time and said to the other "Hello!"

Gaara seemed shocked about something, so Sakura being the kind hearted person she is asks. "What is wrong Gaara kun?"

"I-I just slept." Stuttered Gaara quietly stunned.

"Is something wrong?" Asked Sakura. "Do you get night mares? Are you feeling O.K.?"

Gaara looked up when he started to here his friend speak and he felt warm around the cheaks and he liked the fact that she was worried about him.

"Gaara kun your face is red!" Said Sakura even more worriedly, she put her tiny had on to Gaara's forehead and said. "You do not feel that warm, but your face is still very red!"

"Cherry blossom!" Gaara said chuckling and still red. "I am fine, I have never slept before."

"You haven't!?" Sakura said shocked.

"Good morning you two." Said Yashamaru.

They looked up at him, glittering jade green and sparkling emerald eyes looked up at him.

"You two need to get up, it is breakfast time!" Said Yashamaru.

"Yay! Breakfast!!" the pair said happily.

They got up together, Sakura said "I need to change my clothes so you go on ahead."

Gaara nodded and left with Yashamaru and he saw that his siblings had come over for breakfast.

He looked back towards his friends room and he saw her come out and smile at him shyly.

Gaara gave her a small smile and Temari and Kanura noticed that Gaara was smiling and it shocked them and they looked to see who it was.

Sakura, who was a little shy to most people since they would normally tease her hid behind the door that led in to her room.

Gaara scowled at his older siblings who quaked in terror at the look he gave them.

"Cherry blossom" Gaara called out softly and gently. "It's okay, they are mot going to hurt you."

He moved towards the door that Sakura was hiding behind and gently opened it and with his sand he pulled her towards him and she hid behind him as they walked back to where his older siblings were.

"Temari chan this is my friend Sakura chan she is a little shy." Said Gaara. "And this is Kankuro kun."

"Hi." Said Sakura peeking up at them from behind Gaara shyly.

"Nice to meet you Sakura chan." Said Temari and Kankuro simultaneously.

They all went to the table and ate breakfast, Kankuro and Temari went to the Suna ninja academy while Yashamaru went to work in a mission he had gotten late last night.

"So…" Said Sakura. "What are we going to do Panda chan?"

"I suppose we could go outside and play." Said Gaara. "Or we could go and explore."

"How about we do both things." Said Sakura.

"That sounds like a great idea!" Replied Gaara.

Gaara showed her around and Suna and they played tag and hide and go seek and many other games and also they just sat and talked about things.

Sakura had accidentally kicked the ball in to some ones face and Gaara thought it was kind of funny that she had hit some one with a soccer ball.

Sakura dashed up to the man so she could retrieve the ball and apologize.

"I am very sorry for hitting you with the ball sir." Said Sakura with an apologetic look on her face.

The man, who was the kazekage did not notice his youngest child, Gaara and snarled at Sakura angrily and said. "You are sorry!?! You insolent brat! You insolent little whelp how dare you hit me!"

"I-it was an a-accident." Stuttered Sakura her emerald eyes filling up with tears.

"Oh kami! Are you so weak and pathetic that you are going to dare try and cry at me!?!" Hissed the kazekage. "Well, let me give you something to cry about."

The kazekage had raised his fist and was about to strike her when Gaara, who had had just about enough with having his "father" the kazekage bullying HIS friend and her nearly saw red when he saw HIS friend nearly being hit.

Gaara manipulated his sand and it protected her and he manipulated the sand and wrapped it around her and pulled her behind him.

The kazekage's face paled slightly when he saw the sand shield, his face drained of color and blood when he saw Gaara stand in front of the young girl he had been yelling at and nearly hit.

Gaara was growling fiercely at him and his sand whipped around him and the kazekage harshly and it started to hurt the kazekage.

"HOW! DARE! YOU! " Roared Gaara furiously as his light jade green eyes changed to an angry frightening yellow. "How DARE YOU hurt MY cherry blossom!"

The kazekage gulped and liked down at Gaara of the sand in absolute horror and terror rolling off of him in tsunami waves.

Gaara smirked and licked his lips, enjoying the fear coming off of the man that had tried to hurt HIS Sakura and almost make her cry.

"You will pay for what you have done." Snarled Gaara as his face darkened and he took a threatening step towards his father.

Gaara felt one of HIS Sakura's hands touch his shoulder he turned towards her slightly and saw HIS Sakura's eyes. She still was not completely scared of him, she was just slightly nervous.

"G-gaara kun." Said Sakura slightly nervous.

"Yes MY Sakura chan." Replied Gaara his eyes, face and voice shockingly different from before, it was gentle, soft and quiet.

"U-um… I do not think that he will bother me again." Said Sakura. "And do you want to meet my parents?"

He blinked at her a couple times, thinking it over, the sand and wind died down and stopped.

"Sure." He said.

Sakura gave him a brilliant smile and she gave him a hug and grabbed his right hand and they went off in search for her parents. The kazekage released a breathe that he did not know that he had been holding, he spotted a message in the sand by his feet.

"Every try and hurt MY Sakura chan again and you WILL pay for It." It was signed by his youngest son, Gaara of the sand.

He put his hand over his heart and thought. 'Thank Kami she saved me. Oh, we most definantly need to keep her in Suna and preferably around Gaara. I wish that she was born here!'

The Kazekage tottered to a bench and sat down recovering from his near death experience that we had, had and the amazing strength of the young Sakura sama.

'If any one dares call her weak.' Thought the Kazekage with a wry laugh. 'Then that persom or persons are fools.'

Sakura watched her friend and she asked. "Are you better now?"

Gaara blinked at her and asked. "Huh?"

"I thought you were upset a little while ago." Clarified Sakura.

"You were not sacred?" Asked Gaara in disbelief. "You are not afraid of me? Not even a little bit?"

"No." Answered Sakura truthfully. "You have an anger issue, and every one has a problem with their tempers some times."

Gaara really liked HIS best friend Sakura, she understood him and she was not scared of him at all.

Shyly he grabbed Sakura's hand and tugged her to his favorite place to eat lunch and at they ordered food and ate it.

Outside they saw that a storm was coming.

"Sakura chan." Said Gaara worried. "We have to go home or we might get caught in the storm!"

"Sure Gaara kun." Replied Sakura grabbing his hand as they quickly paid for the meal and started to run.

Happyfish: Thank you for reading!

Sakura: Please review!

Gaara: WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT CHAPTER!!


	3. Chapter 3

The Desert's Flower

Chap.3

Happyfish: I don NOT own NARUTO!

Sakura and Gaara ran to Yashamaru's house as the wind kicked up. Gaara's sand flew around and protected Sakura and himself as they ran.

The sand storm was coming in quicker then Gaara had expected, so in order to protect himself and Sakura he made a sphere out of sand that surrounded around them and protected them.

"G-gaara?" Asked sakura scared.

"I made a shield around us so that they storm would not get us." Answered Gaara.

Sakura made several plants grow that were luminescent so they could see each other.

"H-how long does sand storms last?" Asked Sakura.

"Some times days." Stated Gaara.

"How can we tell if it is over or not?" Asked Sakura.

Gaara put his ear to one of the sides of the sand shield and heard the storm rage.

"You can hear the wind die down and I can create and eye out of sand to see." Replied Gaara.

Sakura imitated his movement and heard the howling wind.

"How did you do that cherry blossom?" Asked Gaara.

"Do what?" Asked Sakura confused.

Gaara pointed to the luminescent plant and she explained what she explained what she said and did to make the plant.

Gaara did the same gestures and words and created the luminescent plant, it was bigger and brighter than hers.

"Why is yours smaller?" Asked Gaara.

"Because you are stronger than me." Replied Sakura. "I am weaker than you in chakra strength."

"No, I think that you are stronger than me in some ways." Argued Gaara. "You have a large heart, you are compassionate and you help others. You are nice and polite to every one, even to people who are mean to you. You are very strong in other ways, you are very smart and you know a lot of things. Your strength comes from inside of you, I am a monster and I am weak."

Sakura blushed at what gaara had said, but told him. "You are very strong as well! You stand up for yourself and for others against any one no matter who they are or what their station in life is. You have a lot's of physical and chakra strength. You can get people to do what you want and you can have people listen to you and take you seriously. True, I have only known you for two days, but none the less you are very strong Gaara. Also you are not a monster, you are polite, shy, kind, cute and you care for your friends. You are not a monster, you look and act nothing like a monster. IN fact I believe the people who are really are the monsters are the people who believe that you are one are the real monsters."

Gaara felt his hear lift up when he hear the speech that his friend gave him.

"Here," Said Sakura. "I made you a friendship bracelet, it is made out of leave and thread. The leave will not die as long as you keep it on and remember out friendship and the time we spent together."

Gaara smiled happily at HIS dear best friend Sakura and he made her a friendship bracelet out of sand and gave it to her.

"Thank you for making me a friendship bracelet cherry blossom." Said Gaara, a little shyly, but also please that SHE had made HIM a friendship bracelet. "Here is a friendship bracelet, I made it for you and it will keep its shape even if we are not near each other."

"Thank you for making me a friendship bracelet for my Panda chan." Said Sakura happily as she hugged Gaara who blushed and hugged her back.

They put on the bracelets that the other one gave them to each other.

Gaara taught Sakura one of the things he could do, it was a jutsu that was both defensive and offensive.

Sakura rubbed her eyes and yawned and said sleepily. "I think that it is nap time Gaara."

"But Sakura!! I can not sleep!" Protested Gaara.

"You slept last night." Pointed out Sakura.

"That was a fluke." Retorted Gaara.

Sakura had laid down and fallen asleep a little after Gaara had said the last word.

Gaara shook his head and watched as Sakura as she slept and he pressed his ear against the side of the sand barrier and used his sand eye to look out and saw and heard that the wind was still howling to hard and that it was still impossible to see through.

He sat back down in a comfortable position and listened to the wind's howl go away as it slowly died down as he watched HIS friend sleep peacefully.

"Sakura." Said Gaara gently. "Time to wake up, the sand storm has just stopped."

He released the shield of sand and Sakura got up and the pair of them went to Yashamaru's house and knocked on the door.

Kankuro answered the door and said. "OH thanks kami! I was worried about the pair of you getting lost in that sand storm."

"Gaara saved both of us." Said Sakura. "He created a sand barrier and we waited out the storm in the barrier."

"I am glad that the two of you are okay." Said Yashamaru with a relieved look on his face." Come on inside you two, it is breakfast time, the storm lasted until five in the morning."

The pair of friends talked and ate breakfast and then went back outside to play hide and seek.

"Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty! Ready or not here I come!" Called out Gaara he squeezed his teddy bear and went off in search for his friend.

After searching for several minutes he spotted a lock of Sakura's rose colored hair and crept up towards her, but he stopped when he heard some one speak, it was a man's voice that he did not recognize.

"Come on my dear, our mission is almost complete, once we are done we cam take our daughter Sakura back home to Kahona."

"NO!!" Roared Gaara, he had not truly processed the fact that Sakura might leave him. "YOU ARE NOT TAKING AWAY _**MY**_ SAKURA AWAY FROM ME!!"

Both shinobi jumped when they heard the young boy speak and the turned and saw a young red headed six year old boy with a teddy bear glare at the fiercely.

Something about him and his aura made them fear for their lives and shrink away from him.

"W-we are not leaving yet." Said Sakura's mother in a am attempt to mollify the young one. "We are going to leave at the earliest in a week or two and at the latest we are going to leave in a few months."

That mollified Gaara only slightly and the sand had slowly stopped whipping around and he said in a dark and dangerous tone that should never come out a six year olds mouth. "You had better not be lying to me. I. . Cherry blossom."

With that said he turned around and started to search for his friend since they were still playing a game of hide and seek.

After a few minutes later he spotted Sakura and he lightly touched her shoulder with his sand and she turned and he saw Gaara who grinned at her triumphantly.

"I found you!" Gaara said proudly. "Nice hiding spot Sakura!"

"Good job Panda chan! How about we play another game." Replied Sakura with a happy smile.

Gaara suddenly remembered that he had a small gift for her he had noticed a little while ago that Sakura's ribbon looked a little worn out so he had gotten her a new one.

"Sakura chan," Said Sakura with a little bit of blush on his cheeks. "I… um… have a gift for you…"

"Really!?!" Squeaked Sakura blushing.

He gave her a dark red ribbon to her and apologized that his gift was not wrapped up.

Sakura told him that it was O.K., and she immediately took out her old ribbon and put the new one that HE had given her.

She tucked her old one in her pocket and smiled up at him happily.

"Thank you for the new ribbon Gaara kun." Said Sakura. "I have a present for you as well, a-and I-I l-love you Panda chan."

"I-I love you too cherry blossom." Stuttered Gaara and he also started to say. "I-I d-do not…"

Sakura gave him a soccer ball, he had wanted to have one all for himself, but he had decided to buy Sakura a present instead of something he really wanted.

"Let's play soccer!" Said Gaara happily hugging HIS soccer ball that HIS friend had given him.

"Sure Panda chan." Replied Sakura.

The duo went to the soccer friend; they were oblivious to the other children that were running away from them, more specifically Gaara.

The parents and shinobi looked over towards them and saw the demon and they were shocked to see him playing with some one, they wondered who it was.

One of the bravest of the shinobi, who later would become Gaara's juonin sensei, came towards the duo.

He watched as the pair played soccer and the ball went soaring over and landed three feet away from him.

Both Gaara and the rose hair colored girl came over and the girl grabbed the ball while Gaara cool stared up ate him, his jade green eyes glittering with a strange emotion.

"Come on Panda chan." The young girl said. "Let's play some more soccer… what are you looking at?"

Sakura looked up at the older shinobi curiously and asked innocently. "Why are you looking at us?"

He said nothing; Baki ignored the girl in favor of watching Gaara, and the demon of Suna and what he did not expect was what Gaara did next.

"Answer my friend's question." Said Gaara coolly.

"What?" was the oh so eloquent response from Baki.

Gaara's eyes narrowed to dangerous slits, as well as start to turn yellow and the sand started to whirl around him and he stated calmly as he could. "Apologize to MY friend for ignoring her and answer the question she asked… shinobi."

"Gaara kun." Said Sakura sheepishly. "Let's play more soccer! I do not need him to apologize to me, in fact I think that I need to say sorry to him because I was prying in to his business by asking my question."

"Hm." Said Gaara, his eyes were still tinted with the demonic yellow of Shukaku.

"Come on," Said Sakura. "Let's play more soccer! I believe that I was winning by two points."

Gaara looked at her and the demonic presence with in Gaara diminished back to its normal level and Gaara's eyes were back to their normal jade green color again.

"Oh yeah?" Said Gaara. "Well then let's play some more!"

Sakura dropped the ball and kicked it towards the place where they were and after a little while they went to Gaara's home to eat dinner.

Sakura had been taken aside after dinner by Yashamaru and was told that in several days' time she would be going back home to Kahona.

After she heard that she did not eat dessert, but went straight to bed and started to cry.

She did not want to leave Suna, she had her only friend here and was going to leave him soon.

Happyfish: Thank you for reading!

Gaara: I DO NOT WANT MY CHERRY BLOSSOM TO LEAVE ME!! *GLARES AT READERS* REVIEW!!!!!

Sasuke: Stop shouting Gaara you re giving me a head ache and the readers are less likely to review if you shout at them…

Gaara: Shut up Sasuke!


	4. Chapter 4

The Desert's Flower

Chap.4

Happyfish: I Do not own Naruto

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"_Singing_"

(Author's Notes)

Sakura woke up and sighed sadly as her mother entered the room and said "Come on my dear, you need to pack, we are going to leave later in a few days."

"Yes mommy." Said Sakura.

'Panda chan will not be happy that I am leaving, I wonder what he will do when he finds out we do not have a lot of time left to play with each other.' Thought Sakura.

She packed up her things and Gaara appeared and asked "Why are you so sad? I can smell your tears."

"I am leaving Suna and I am going back to Kahona in a few days, my mom just told me." Replied Sakura.

'They lied to me!' Thought Gaara angrily. 'Oh, they WILL pay.'

Gaara and Sakura played for the few days they had left and Gaara was very reluctant to leave Sakura.

He even walked her or as he put it, escorted her out of the village and waved good by as he watched her leave his sight line.

His anger boiling in his blood as sand whipped around him and people started to scream in agony as he punished them, he felt as if they were the reason HIS Sakura had left him.

He knew in his heart he would meet HIS friend again, and when he did no one would stand in his way of keeping her with him, no matter who it was.

Sakura told her parents that she wanted to go out and play with the other children; surely she hoped they would allow her to play with them.

She grabbed her soccer ball and went outside and she went to a long blonde haired girl and timidly asked. "C-can I play with you?"

Ino looked down haughtily at Sakura and said rudely "Why should I lower myself to play with a pink haired freak!"

Sakura blinked back the burning sensation in her eyes and tried to ask a couple of the other kids if she could play with them and they teased her about her forehead and called her ugly.

'It's just as I feared, no body wants to play with me, I am lonely again.' Thought Sakura sadly.

She spotted a blonde haired boy that was sitting on the swings alone; he gave off the same feeling that Gaara gave her.

Sakura went up to him and asked, "Do you want to play with me?"

The blonde boy looked up at her and she saw large, bright eyes and he blinked up at her in shock, oddly reminiscent of her friend Gaara.

"M-my name is Haruno Sakura." Said Sakura a touch shyly now. "What is your name? Will you please play soccer with me?"

"M-my name is Uzumaki Naruto a-and ar-are you asking to play with me?" Said Naruto.

"Yes, I am." Said Sakura giving him a bright, happy smile, but it drooped slightly. "No one will play with me, they say that I am a freak and I am to ugly to play with them."

"You are NOT a freak!" Said Naruto. "I will play soccer with you, and you should not believe the mean things that other people say."

"Really?" Said Sakura perking up and smiling a dazzling smile at him.

They played together until it started to get dark and Sakura said "Come on over to my house for dinner Naruto kun!"

"Ar-are you su-sure that you want me to do that?" Asked Narturo nervously.

Sakura nodded her head vigorously and said "Yes, you are my friend, so I wish to have you over for dinner!"

"I-I am you friend Sakura chan?" Asked Naruto incredulously as he hardly daring to believe her words.

"Y-you do not want to be my friends?" Said Sakura sadly as her shoulder drooped and she looked down trying to hold back tears.

"N-no! I want to be your friend!" Said Naruto in his usual loud way. "I was just surprised that you think of me as your friend is all."

"Why would I think other wise?" Asked Sakura confused.

"No reason." Replied Naruto.

The pair of them walked to her house and talked about everything and nothing all at once, Sakura mainly listened to her loud friend.

Both of them were unaware of the onyx black eyes that had been watching them the entire time that they had played and talked together.

Her parents had been more than a little shocked that she had befriended yet another demon container.

The next day Sakura and Naruto started to play soccer together, the soccer ball went flying over towards a cherry tree and Sakura went over to pick it up and spotted a black haired boy with sad eyes.

He also reminded her of both of her friends, Gaara and Naruto, so she decided to go over and talk to him.

"Hello! My name is Sakura, what is yours?" Asked Sakura cheerfully as she smiled at him, she did not recognize the infamous red and white fan of the Uchiha clan.

"M-my name is Sasuke, nice to meet you." Said Sasuke shyly.

Sakura called Naruto over and the three of them started to play together and their friendship grew steadfast and strong.

Several years later Sakura was helping both of her guy friends how to control their chakra because, all three of them knew that she knew how to control her chakra better than any one.

She helped both of them with studying for both parts of the genin test; they knew that she would pass with flying colors and that they would as well, but they figured that a little extra studying never hurt any one.

Sakura and Sasuke had to convince Naruto of that and through the years they had gotten into trouble because of the misadventures that Naruto would rope Sakura and Sasuke into.

The day of the biggest test that they had ever faced in their lives was coming up tomorrow morning.

"Guys, I think we have practiced all we can, after all we do not want to pass out during the exam because we did not have enough sleep tonight." Said Sakura.

The other two nodded and they said their goodbyes, Sakura sighed, her parents were on a mission and the house felt lonely and empty now that she was by herself.

She went to sleep after tossing and turning a couple of times and the last thought she had before she fell asleep was this; 'I wonder what will happen tomorrow, I hope I and my two friends pass.'

Happyfish: And that is all for chapter four folks!

Kakashi: *Is reading one of his pervy books* I show up next chapter if any of you readers care to know.

Itachi: Review this chapter or I will use the Myakugan Sharingan on you!

Happyfish: WHAT HAVE I TOLD EVERY ONE ABOUT THREATENING MY READERS!

Sasuke, Gaara and Itachi: that we should not threaten them


	5. Chapter 5

The Desert's Flower

Chap.5

Happyfish: I do not own Naruto!

They had been split into teams and Naruto and Sasuke were relieved when they found out that they would be together with each other and with Sakura.

"I am sorry you three, but your jounin senei is going to be late…" Apologized Iruka. "I have to go and do something else now."

The trio waited for their sensei and Sakura's two guy friends were getting annoyed and impatient.

"You know, I think that this is probably part of a test." Said Sakura. "I overheard that our sensei prizes teamwork a lot and that he has never passed a team of genin before."

"Well then," said Sasuke with a mischievous glint in his eye. "Let's give him what he expects, act like we are not a team so that we can give him a first false impression and then we can surprise him later with our good skills as being a cohesive and tight knit team."

"That sounds like a good idea for a prank Sasuke!" Said Naruto. "I will do a simple prank on him and pretend to enjoy it and act like a buffoon and a loud mouth. Ku ku ku… Sasuke will have to put on his teme act and act cold, cool and aloof, among other things."

Sakura sighed and said. "And of course, I will have to act like I am a helpless little girl who is in love with and a rabid fan girl of Sasuke and pretend to dislike Naruto."

They nodded and they started to assume the rolls that they had stated or, that some one else had stated for them. What the young genin trio of friends did not know, nor did they realize was that Kakashi had heard every word that they had spoken since Iruka had left them.

'A good plan and I would have fallen for it if I had not known of it before hand.' Thought Kakashi. 'They work together flawlessly, even though they are pretending to be the opposite. Plus, I know that they are childhood friends, They have grown up from that last time that I have seen them.'

Kakashi appeared and their test today because he was interested in how long they could keep up the façade that they were not a team and the rest of that little plan of theirs. He commended them for their really good acting skills, while he was distracted with his thoughts they had gotten the bells and two held one bell and the third one held the second one.

"Good job you three." Kakashi drawled out lazily. "But since Sakura has to share her bell with Naruto you are not allowed to eat lunch and the other two members of your team have to eat in front of him… Now I have to go do some thing else some where else."

He poofed a safe distance away and watched the trio sharply this was the real test, to see if they follow his words blindly or not.

"Naruto." Said Sakura. "Here is some of my food."

"WHAT!" Shouted Naruto loudly.

"You need your strength and we can not have our team weakened because some jounin orders us not to feed you." Said Sasuke.

"But…" Naruto started to say something, still pretending not to want to have food.

"Remember one of the old ninja sayings? It was this "you are only as strong as your weakest link." So unless you want to weaken our team you have to eat."

"O.k." Said Naruto.

Sakura gave him one of her pieces of sushi and naruto ate it and then Kakashi appeared out of know where and thunder could started to loom around them and he looked very intimidating.

"Why did you go against my orders?" Demanded Kakashi with a growl.

"Because team work is important and we need all of our team to be at their strongest." Said Sakura calmly.

"We all pass or we all fail." Said Sasuke.

Kakashi blinked and said two words. "You… pass."

The thunderclouds vanished and the trio relaxed and he stated. "Meet me by the bridge, we are going on a mission tomorrow."

"Are we going to train today?" Inquired Naruto.

"Yes." Was the monosyllabic reply from their jounin sensei.

They trained for the rest of the day and then at the end of the training session. "We are going on the miss at seven in the morning."

"Yes sensei." Replied the trio in unison.

The three friends walked together in a comfortable silence, as they walked the other two heard Naruto's stomach growl.

"Hey guys, lets go to ichikkadur's. " Said Naruto. " I am famished."

Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other and then at Naruto and sighed while saying, "Yes Naruto."

They went to the much beloved restaurant and ordered their favorite ramen, Sakura seemed to remember something with a jolt because she jumped slightly and nearly dropped her bowl of soup. Sasuke and Naruto, looked at her with concern and steered her towards a seat gave her two worried looks.

"I… just remembered something." Said Sakura.

"What?" asked Naruto promptly.

"I… did I ever tell you that I was adopted?" Asked Sakura as she stirred her bowl of steaming hot ramen.

They looked at her in shock, Sakura smiled sadly at them and said. "I was born in Iwa, my adopted parents visited there and they adopted me. I … have a … clan and a blood line."

"Really?" Sasuke and Naruto said at the same time, curious to know what her blood line was. "What is it?"

"Did you guys know that I tried to bleach my hair?" Said Sakura as she fingered one of her rosy red locks. "It did not work, not really, instead of a deep dark red it's a color of pink."

"Next you ae going to tell us that you have an older brother or something who so happens to be a missing ninja." Quipped Naruto jokingly.

Sakura stared at him in shock and asked a little unnerved. "H-how? Did you guess that?"

"Wait a minute." Said Sasuke looking at his long time female friend. "You have an … older brother as well?"

"Yes… his name is Akasuna No Sasori." Answered Sakura, her voice growing softer. "And he comes from Suna."

"What is your gecci genkia?" Asked Naruto.

Sakura froze for a moment and her friends shifted slightly in front of her and she remained stone still for the next couple of minutes. She looked as if she was trying to say something, but something was stopping her.

"You do not have to tell us if you do not want to." Said Sasuke softly.

"Yeah…" Said Naruto. "You can show/tell us another time if you don't feel like showing/telling us now."

Sakura relaxed at their words and bit her lip as she took in a deep breath and answered Naruto's question. "Once my … blood limit is activated my hair will probably revert back to its natural color. I … I will tell and show you what my … clan's special ability is, but not here, not where … some one could over hear it."

"Sure Saku." Replied Naruto and Sasuke instantly.

They finished the rest of their forgotten food quickly, after Sasuke paid for the meal they left and went to one of the numerous meadows in the forest that surrounds Kahona.

"My… clan." Sakura started to say. "Has several nicknames we get are puppeteer, the manipulator and a few others. The reason why we are called such is because we have the ability to control other people's bodies and their blood lines and trap their own minds inside their own body and watch as we force them to do what ever we want them to do and they can not fight it. Not even if we force them to go up against their teammates and kages, our hold over them is absolute. A common… practice that is common in amongst the members of my clan is to… to "collect" people to be their puppets. We cannot die by battle or by age because we stop ageing when we hit 16 years old. The reason why I am telling you this is because my… ability has just activated and … my clan as well as my older brother know that I reside within Kahona."

"What are they going to do to you Saku?" Asked Naruto. "I mean… its not as if they are going to do anything… right?"

"I… I do not know, but what I do know is that for some certainty is that one of my clan is an akatsuki… what ever that is." Replied Sakura gulping slightly. "And… I am… afraid that it is my older brother."

"Why?" Inquired Naruto, although Sasuke had a sneaking suspicion he knew why.

"He is the most powerful of my clan, he reached the full potential of our blood limit when he was six years old and when he was thirteen years old he nearly killed all of our clan. The only ones to survive were myself, our parents and a couple of our cousins." Replied Sakura, the pain in her eyes growing.

"What do you mean by "nearly killed"?" Queried the both of them asked very confused.

"He destroyed their puppets and their chakra strings, and if you do that it hurts and makes a puppeteer very vulnerable to attack because of the shock and pain of loosing a puppet can be quite great. Luckily for me I have not ever made a puppet nor, will I ever use the Akasuna blood limit." Answered Sakura. "Also, the few that have remained are trying to find me because, my older brother did love me the most and they want to kill me to get to him."

"That's not fair!" Shouted Naruto angrily.

Sakura smiled sadly down at him. "Life is not fair, you just have to get used to it."

"Did the rest of your clan already kill your parents?" Asked Sasuke softly.

"Yes, we were visiting Iwa when we heard what had happened to the rest of the clan." Replied Sakura. "My father went back to Suna and was killed, they hunted us but… my mother sacrificed herself to save mine."

"I thought you said that you guys could not be killed in battle." Said Naruto confused.

"Other ninjas cannot kill us in battle but we can kill each other." Replied Sakura.

"Oh…" Said Naruto in understanding.

"Don't worry Saku chan I will help you stay away from your evil clan members." Said Naruto and Sasuke in unison.

Sakura looked at her two friends in relief and she said to Naruto. "Didn't you say that you were going to help Hinata and train?"

"Oh yeah!" Said Naruto smacking himself on the forehead as he ran off to go find her.

Sakura and Sasuke shook their heads and went after their silly friend, they heard Naruto shout angrily about something to some one, but Sakura got distracted when she felt something soft, warm and smooth touch her legs. She could not suppress a yelp of surprise and jumped a foot into the air, but she was stopped by sand. Sasuke had turned towards her to see why she had yelped and his eyes widened in shock and he lunged towards her and started to try and pull her away from something.

'Gaara?' Wondered Sakura. 'Are you the one that is doing this? Or is it a different Suna ninja?'

As if in answer the sand pushed Sasuke around and in cased her in a bubble of sand, just like the one that she had happened many times when she was six years old and she had just hugged Gaara. Sasuke was worried, his teammate and the only girl he viewed as a sister had just been incased by sand.

'Darn it!' Thought Sasuke. 'I need help!'

He spotted Neji and almost tackled him and hissed. "Activate you Byakugan now! Some one has/is trying to kidnap one of my team mates and I want to know who it is!"

"Calm down! I am doing it! Just get off of me Sasuke!" Replied Neji as he spat out the name Byakugan and one both of his temples his veins popped out to an exaggerated size. Quickly he located the jounin that was manipulating sand that had Sakura, he focused on the hia'ate and saw that it was a suna ninja.

"Sakura is being kidnapped by a Sand ninja!" Said Neji surprised.

Happyfish: And that is the end of chapter five!

Gaara: Please review!


	6. Chapter 6

The Desert's Flower

Chapter 6:

WARNING: there MIGHT be an OC in this chapter folks, but he or she won't be here that long IF there is one at all.

Happyfish: I do not own Naruto

Neji and Sasuke threw Kunais at the sand shinobi that had their friend, it distracted him enough so that the sand whipped around to protect him and dropped Sakura.

'Damn!' Thought Touga. 'Now I will have to fight these two brats AND try and get Sakura sama back afterwards. I was told to try and be discreet in getting her back to Suna and now these brats leave me no choice BUT to hurt them… Oh well.'

He fought the two young genin, who he found out were surprisingly good and very strong, he wanted to end this quickly so he used his sand to grab she who could stop the oncoming storm. In an attempt to make them stop fighting him and to get her back to Suna he put a kunai against her throat.

"If you do not do exactly what I say your little friend here will die." Said Touga.

Neji froze and gritted their teeth in frustration, but they did not want their friend to be hurt so they complied with what he wanted.

"Turn around and stay where you are, do not tell any one what has transpired or I will kill the girl." Growled Touga, luckily for him they did not know that he was lying to them, if he hurt her in any way, kamis forbid kill her it would mean the destruction of his life and probably of Suna as well.

Neji and Sasuke glared up at him and slowly did as they were commanded, Sakura finished the jutsu and vines erupted out of the ground and enveloped Touga in a cocoon of vines. Sakura calmly stepped out of his grip and smiled up at Sasuke and Neji gratefully.

"I wonder why he tried to kidnap you Sakura chan." Said Sasuke. (1)

"I do not know." Replied Sakura with worry coloring her voice. "I saw his head band, but why would a Suna ninja try and kidnap me? We have a treaty with them, it does not make sense. Unless…"

Sakura's voice petered out as she got lost in her own thoughts her right hand twitched over to her left wrist. Both of the boys, who where on hyper alert for any more attacks noticed odd action she did.

"Is your left writs hurt or something?" Asked Neji looking at her sharply.

Sakura, out of reflex hid her left wrist and said. "No, nothing is wrong with my wrist, or at least nothing that _you _need to be worried about."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly, Sakura was hiding something, the two of them had been in the same classes during the academy and they had been friends since, forever.

'Maybe she is still a little freaked out about the sand attack and she hurt her wrist and she does not want to admit it to us.' Thought Sasuke. 'Or else she might know or have something that the kazekage wants… but I do not see how she could… I mean its not like she has been to Suna or something. I also wonder how she was able to do the plant thing, what else has she not told us?'

After Sakura convinced them she was fine, she looked back at the cocoon and made it open up just enough for him to be able to speak to her and hear what she had to say. After she got rid of Neji and Sasuke, she went over to the Suna ninja with her thought whirling in confusion.

"Why are you after me? Why now after all these years?" Asked Saura.

"We did try to get you when you were younger, and this is the closest we have gotten to taking you back to Sina Sakura sama." Replied the sand jounin.

"You forgot to answer my first question." Stated Sakura.

"Which question was that?" Asked Touga, dilberately being obtuse.

"Why are you trying to kidnap me?" Reiterated Sakura.

"Because… we need you." Was the cryptic response that she got.

"What do you mean "we need you"?" Inquired Sakura.

"After you… left G-ga-gaara sama went into a rage." Answered Touga licking his lips and gulping in terror as he remembered. "Many of our people got either hurt or died, it took many months for his rage to calm down enough, he has never fully calmed down… at least not yet. Hi-his anger is very very easy to encite, and it is really are the only one that can calm him down, he … unless we do exactly, and I mean precisely to the letter what he wants… our lives… Please! Come back to Suna! We need you more that Leaf does! We NEED you Lady Sakura, once every one in Suna knew about you… the civilians gave you a nick name, Precious One. Please come back to Suna!"

"I can not do that." Said Sakura backing away from him. "As much as I care for panda chan, I can not abandon my own village."

Sakura shook her head and left Touga stuck in the green cocoon, after several hours of trying he got out of it.

'There must be some way to get her to come back to Suna.' Thought Touga, he shuddered at the punishment that he would receive if he failed this retrieval mission.

Sakura and her team mates waited for their lazy sensei to appear, all three of them looked relaxed, but they had chakra feeders ever where. Naruto and Sauke were on either side of Sakura, all three of them had their arms crossed in the exact same way, right arm over left.

"He is VERY late today." Said Sakura tapping her foot in an agitated manner.

"Sakura, how were you able to do that cocoon thing earlier this morning?" Asked Sasuke suddenly.

"My mother comes from a different ninja village from my father's." replied Sakura. "Her clan is that they can us plants and are really fast, the side effects of this is we get another personality… or a dark and they look like a cross between of a Venus fly trap and a human. The only relative on that side of the family that I know also has the genkia is my cousin Zetsu." (2)

"Why don't you look like that?" Asked Naruto.

Sakura grinned and did a strange jutsu and she looked like she had described to them. (3)

"My family has a jutsu that can make it so that only one side is shown while the other is within. Some choose not to use it while others do." Explained Sakura, she redid the jutsu and a few hours later their sensei appeared.

"We have a guard mission that we have to go on tomorrow." Said Kakashi.

"Aw! That is not a hard mission at all!" Naruto complained loudly.

"Deal with it." Said Kakashi. "Meet me at the guard tower near the front gates of Kahona."

"Hai sensei." The trio said.

As the three of them trudged towards their separate destinations Sasuka and Sasuke had to put up with Naruto grumblings about how they should have gotten a more riskier mission than the one that they had gotten.

"Fox kun." Said Sakura to Naruto rubbing her temples. " True it is a low level mission, but don't you think that we need to start slow at the beginning and then get on to the harder ones?"

"But.. Cherry chan!" Protested Naruto. "I want us to have more dangerous missions!"

"Yeah and if we and things get way over our heads then I will have to use one or maybe both my blood limits and then our sensei will know, at least I think he will, know about my… unfortunate blood relation." (4)

Naruto paused to mull over what Sakrua had said and replied. "Sensei seems trustworthy to me."

Sakura looked at him strangely and said. "We barely know him."

"True." Agreed Naruto with a nod of his head.

Sakura yawned and looked at her watch and said. "We have a mission tomorrow, see tomorrow Fox kun."

"See you later Cherry chan." Replied Naruto and he went to his apartment.

Sakura noticed some one was following her she turned quickly and identified it to be the Suna ninja from earlier and she sighed in a long suffering sort of way and shook her head as she unlocked the front door of her house to get in. After eating dinner with her family and doing her nightly routine she looked out of her window and saw the jounin jump up the onto her balcony and knock on the window.

Sakura raised one eyebrow and asked "What?"

Sakura knew that he could hear her perfectly through the glass, she did not want him to try and capture her again.

"You do know that you WILL come back to Suna, whether it be a mission or by something else." Said Touga.

"I am not going to become a missing ninja." Hissed Sakura angrily, her eyes narrowing to slits.

"Sakura?" Asked her mother. "Are you alright?"

"Yes mom I am fine." Sakura called out, she turned back to face Touga and saw that he had left, she had sensed him leaving.

The next day Sakura was in a nostalgic mood as she played with the bracelet that Gaara had made for her. She had always worn it and somehow, it had grown bigger over the years to fit her wrist size.

'I wonder how Panda chan is doing?' Pondered Sakura as she shifter her backpack. 'I have to hurry up or I will be late.'

Sakura got to the spot where all of them were supposed to meet; Sasuke and Naruto came a little later. While they waited for their lazy sensei and the person they were supposed to be guarding to show up.

They talked about was they could get their sense back for being so late.

"Yo!" Said Kakashi to his students, who looked up at him unamused. "This old man needs us to help him get back to his village."

They saw the old man wander towards them with a bottle of Sake in his hand.

"Lets go." Slurred the man.

Sakura wrinkled her nose in disgust at the heavy smell of Sake on his breath. As the walked to the older man's village Sakura noticed a puddle of water, she frowned in confusion, as far as she knew their had been no rain here for at least a month or more.

So as discreetly as she could she alerted her teammates and Kakashi about what she had seen. They went into a more protective stance around the man with out looking like they knew something might happen.

As soon as they were out of sight of the puddle they were attacked by hidden mist ninja. Sakura's puppet strings lashed out and they became a living marionette for the briefest of moments.

Before they were defeated by all four of the leaf ninjas, Kakashi turned around to face the old man standing up to his full height.

"Old man." He growled dangerously. "Why are several S class ninjas after you? This is a much higher ranked mission then you told to the hokage."

The old man gulped and said nervously. "I come from a poor village, and I could not afford a more highly trained team."

Sasuke and Naruto stopped bashing the mist ninjas, the reason was that Sakura said that they were unconscious.

"Sensei, isn't it the job of a ninja to protect the weak?" Inquired Sakura innocently.

"Yesss…" Drawled out Kakashi wondering why she asked.

"I bet that the old man has a good reason or two why he lied to the hokage." Stated Sasuke giving the man a piercing look.

"Yes, I do! A very good one indeed!" Said the old man quickly, he explained about who and what he was and about his village.

"Sensei." Said Naruto. "I think that we should help him."

Sasuke and Sakura nodded in agreement to Naruto's sentiment and Kakahsi saw the determination in their eyes and sighed.

Happyfish: That is all for now folks!

Sakura: Please review this chapter!

Light and Dark Zetsu: 0.0 …

Sasori: …

Happyfish: What is wrong with you two?

Both members of the Akatsuki: we are related!

Happyfish: how else was I supposed to explain about the plant thingie she was able to do? Also it's a good plot twist.

Sakura: Now I am related to two members of the akatsuki…

Happyfish: *sing song voice* You are not the only one…

Sasuke and Naruto: who else

Happyfish: one of you two

Sasuke and Naruto: Which one?

Happyfish: Sasuke

Sasuke: I thought my brother killed all of our clan except for me?

Happyfish: That is what _you_ think.

Naruto: Haha! You're related to Akatsuki members and I am not! HA HA HA!

Happyfish: If you want to believe that I won't burst your bubble…

Naruto: Wait… what!

Happyfish: Enough! I have said too much already!

Sasuke: Come on! Its not like any one READS author's notes at the end of a chapter…

Happyfish: They might or might not.

(1) The reason why Sasuke is being more formal towards Sakura is because Neji does not know how close a bond he has with her is and would probably think of it in a girlfriend/boyfriend way instead of the brotherly/sisterly way that it is.

(2) Neither Sasori nor Zetsu know that they are related to one another and Sasori does not have the plant genkia.

(3) Think of like a female chibi version of Zetsu.

(4) She does not know that she is related to Zetsu, although one or the other of them might find out in a later chapter…


	7. Chapter 7 part 1

The Desert's Flower

Chapter 7 PART 1: FORGIVE ME BUT I MUST DO THIS READ ALL OF THIS CHAPTER IF YOU VALUE YOUR STORIES AND THE STORIES OF ALL OTHER AUTHORS!

Happyfish: I do not own NARUTO!

Kakashi sighed and said "Alright we will finish the mission if you insist."

As they got closer to Wave, the mist thickened immeasurably so and they got onto a higher alert.

Then they heard a deep voice boom out of the pea soup thick fog. "Ahh.. the copycat ninja, I have always wanted to have the honor and pleasure of fighting you."

Zabuza stepped into their line of sight and Kakashi said sharply to his students when he spotted them start to flank him. "Stay back and protect the charge, I will deal with him."

"But…!" The three of them started to protest simultaneously.

"Go!" Barked Kakashi. "He is to powerful for you three to fight him, at least he is right now."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I AM TERRIBLE AT FIGHT SCENES, SO LET'S SKIP IT!

They had made it into the village, their sensei needed rest and recharge, his chakra had ran out during the fight. Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto took care of Zabuza and Haku, but only just managing to do so. Once Kakashi had woken up they left and went back home, they had filled him in on what had happened while he had been unconscious.

Once they got back home Kakashi went to Hokage tower to give the report to the hokage about what had happened on the mission.

Sakura said. "I am going to go home. See you two later."

Sasuke nodded and Naruto grinned and he bounced off to his favorite restaurant. Sakura was walking home not thinking of much when she crashed into some one.

Sakura looked around and she saw the person that she had crashed into, and saw a hi'ate on his forehead. She started to open her mouth to apologize for crashing into him when he said. "Sorry for crashing into you."

He got up and put his hand out so that she could grab it and she took his hand and said, "I should apologize, I did not look where I was and I crashed into you."

She looked at his headband again and realized what symbol it was and internally she groaned, he was from Suna. She bit her lip and winced slightly when she saw that he realized who she was.

"Sakura sama!" Stuttered the Suna ninja. "I- I am really really REALLY sorry for crashing into you! A-are you hurt any where!"

She was kind of stunned at him, he was giving her dozens of apologies, it was as if he thought that she was some one important, or a special person of some one important.

"Why do you keep apologizing?" Asked Sakura confused. "I am of no one important and I know of no one who is important that is close to me."

**SORRY TO INTERRUPT THIS STORY BUT SOMETHING VIA READING ANOTHER AUTHOR'S STORY HAS JUST COME TO MY ATTENTION AND I MUST PUT IT UP NOW BECAUSE OF HOW I FEEL, I WILL POST THE REST OF THIS CHAPTER SOON! I JUST HAVE TO PUT THIS OUT THEIR!**

Founded by chisato12010

!Important!

I heard about Redbotton (a program that may get my stories and maybe your stories deleted from FanFiction .net)…

Please read this article I copied off from Civil Initiative .com... If I get in trouble for posting this then so be it, but I feel all readers should know the facts… It's their RIGHT…

Friday, August 27, 2010

The RedBotton Issue and what it means for FFNet

As some may have noticed there has recently been a mass reporting of stories on FFNet that are being made by a person known as RedBootton. The administration of the site have been made aware of a disturbing revelation about this account.

RedBootton is actually a program that was designed by Lord Kelvin and is used by various members of Literate Union. Redbootton appears to be capable of accessing Ffnet and searching stories or summaries for either key words or patterns of grammar and then creating a list of the stories that are "in violation of ToS" it then mass reports these stories until the stories are either removed by the author or mods. The members of LU don't even scan over the list before executing the report portion of the program.

The list itself is generated in a matter of minutes.

The idea is to go through each fandom systematically and clean house until Lord Kelvin can finish the touches on the site wide program. After each fandom is cleaned it will then be used to scan all new stories being posted.

This is a serious violation of the ToS on FFNet  
_4. General Use of the Website  
hereby grants you permission to access and use the Website as set forth in these Terms of Service, provided that:  
A. You agree not to distribute in any medium any part of the Website, including but not limited to User Submissions (defined below), without 's prior written authorization.  
B. You agree not to alter or modify any part of the Website.  
C. You agree not to access User Submissions (defined below) or Content through any technology or means other than the Website itself.  
E. You agree not to use or launch any automated system, including without limitation, "robots," "spiders," or "offline readers," that accesses the Website in a manner that sends more request messages to the servers in a given period of time than a human can reasonably produce in the same period by using a conventional on-line web browser. Notwithstanding the foregoing, grants the operators of public search engines permission to use spiders to copy materials from the site for the sole purpose of and solely to the extent necessary for creating publicly available searchable indices of the materials, but not caches or archives of such materials. reserves the right to revoke these exceptions either generally or in specific cases. You agree not to collect or harvest any personally identifiable information, including account names, from the Website, nor to use the communication systems provided by the Website (e.g. comments, email) for any commercial solicitation purposes. You agree not to solicit, for commercial purposes, any users of the Website with respect to their User Submissions. _

What is disturbing about this issue is that many false positives are given, and stories that are not in violation are being reported. The administration of FFNET have been made aware of this issue, but even after repeated e-mails they seem to be either indifferent or actually support the use of this program by Literate Union.

What follows is what is known about RedBootton and how this one simple program could easily impact the site and why every one should be angry that the administration as remained silent about this issue.

(RB) is a program that accesses and systematically searches for and reports stories that it flags as in violation of ToS.  
program is not perfect and has had false hits, resulting in stories with the inclusion of a header formatted in the following manner as being reported for script format even when the rest of the story is in actual story paragraph form.  
Rating:  
Pairing:  
Summery:  
Authors Note:  
no long reads or even checks over the stories that are flagged by RB before hitting the report function.  
advanced form of the program that is available to trusted members that includes a search function for typo's and grammar. This could result in a 10,000+ word stories that may have a few typo's or stories that have characters that may have dialog that is grammatically incorrect as being reported.  
is a beta version that will have the ability to search for MA stories. This search function is based upon the flagging of certain words within the text. A story that may have a rooster referred to as a cock or a cat being called a pussy could easily be flagged and reported as MA.  
6.A Beta version of the advanced program will have the capability to "clean house" site wide, including scanning any stories as they are being posted.

For those who think that is fiction I give you links to the Literate Union Forum.

.net/topic/61196/30589812/1/

In this thread is where Lord Kelvin talks about and includes links to where this program can be downloaded for general use. At one point LK even states _"Specific words/phrases are rated MA automatically because they are only present in stories with paraphilia."_

.net/topic/61196/30532995/38/#30685587

In this thread there is more talk about both RB and how to use it.

Over the past week multiple emails were sent to the admin and mods of FFNet with no answer. Although it is possible that with a site as large as FFNet that they have yet to find time to address this issue, I find myself leaning more to the belief that they just don't care. Since the site seems unwilling or unable to handle this issue there is only one solution.

That is to leave FFNet. Writers should remove their stories and find alternative sites for posting them. Readers to stop visiting. Perhaps then and only then will this issue be seen as important by the owner.

Personally I would rather fight then flee. Anything worth my time is worth fighting for.

**Please Post this same message to your stories to to let out the word. **


	8. TDF pt2

The Desert's Flower

Chap. 7 part 2

Happyfish: I do not own Naruto and I hope that you lot do not kill me I have been very busy and I have had no muse and I still don't…

Gaara: *glares at Happyfish*

Happyfish: But I have a teaser for you guys and whichever one of my stories gets the most reviews/PM'S I will attempt a full on chapter…

The three of them were glaring at their sensei and they went into a defensive position in front of the old man.


End file.
